The Best Restaurants in Richmond

Want to sing Richmond’s praises? Join the Kew.

Sure, we all love the hustle and bustle of inner city London. Of course we do. The noise, the crowds – it’s all a beautiful, thrilling, pressure-cooker.

And yet, and yet… just a short train-ride from Waterloo, there’s Richmond. It’s a blissful alternative reality, out in Zone 4 – a place that’s technically ‘London’, but is also so very much its own world.

Yes, there are too many chain restaurants, and yes, it’s constantly on the precipice of tumbling into ‘twee’, but the facts are; Richmond is beautiful, it’s genteel, and strolling across Richmond Green after a week in Central London lowers your blood pressure by 50% (citation needed). So take a walk on the much-less-wild side, and then after that go for a meal, at one of these superb (non-chain) restaurants in Richmond.

Petersham Nurseries Café

Leafy, indulgent, and high quality – Petersham Nurseries, in all its genteel, slightly ramshackle glory, embodies the spirit of Richmond. This manor-like complex houses one of London’s finest plant shops, as well as a greenhouse café overflowing with floral displays, candlelight and antique furnishings – possibly one of the most unexpected restaurants to have ever held a Michelin star. Come in for a life-changing dinner, leave with a pot plant. It doesn’t really get better than that.

Details: Church Lane, Off Petersham Road, Richmond TW10 7AB | Book here
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Scott’s Richmond

Johnny Stephens Photography

Yup, that Scott’s. London’s grandest, most eminent seafood restaurant has opened a new outpost, “15 winding river miles upstream of central London” – presumably so that the same people who go there in Mayfair during the week can also eat there at the weekend, without having to leave their local neighbourhood. Expect world-class seafood, dover sole you’ll dream about for years, and a bill that you’ll also dream about for years.

Details: 4 Whittaker Avenue Richmond, TW9 1EH | Book here
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The Fat Badger

The lovingly-created baby of three brothers (but not in a weird way), The Fat Badger was launched by restaurateurs Richard, Oliver and Gregory Gladwin, and offers seasonal farm-to-fork cuisine inspired by their upbringing in rural West Sussex. As in, quite literally sourced from where they grew up: Nutbourne Farm. The cooking is British, sustainable, and deeply satisfying, and the drinks pack a punch too – seek out the British Negroni, which uses Kamm & Sons in place of Campari.

Details: 15-17 Hill Rise, Richmond, TW10 6UQ | Book here
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A Cena

If it’s ‘AA Rosette-recommended Italian restaurants in Richmond’ that you’re after, then you’re in luck – and if it’s ‘the cooking of Head Chef James Allen Thompson, who trained under Jason Atherton’ that you crave, then basically stop reading this entry and book yourself a table right away. Expect show-stopping tagliatelle, and moreish cicchetti including silver skin anchovies, and truffle and pecorino nuts. Plus look out for the remarkably good-value set menu – £20 or £25 for two or three courses.

Details: 418 Richmond Road, Richmond, TW1 2EB | Book here
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Bacco Restaurant

Your other go-to recommendation for Italian restaurants in Richmond, Bacco gives good menu. Think tabasco prawns. Think pepata di cozze al vino bianco mussels in white wine sauce. Think guancia di manzo; ox cheek with potato purée and red wine sauce. Think homemade dolci desserts, and a fulsome cocktail menu. There’s too much that you’ll want to get through in one sitting but, once you’ve gone once, you’ll be bacco…

Details: 39–41 Kew Road, TW9 2NQ | Book here
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The Albert’s Deli

What it lacks in ‘actually being a restaurant’ it makes up for in being ‘200% concentrated Richmond, in its purest form’. Pop in for a sit-down breakfast or lunch, and dive into the luxurious spread of cakes, sandwiches, preserves, cheeses, sausage rolls and gins (it’s like a Redwall feast! Redwall, anyone? Redwall…?) – or stock up on essentials (and, crucially, indulgent inessentials) at the deli. Overpriced? Probably! Difficult to say no to? Without a doubt!

Details: 2 Worple Way, London TW10 6DF | No reservations, visit their website for more information by clicking here
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Chez Lindsay

French, rustic, formidable, Chez Lindsay offers the cooking of Brittany, specialising in the magnificent twin specialities of seafood and pancakes. For the former, look for everything from whelks to crab to oysters to fruits de mer. For the latter, look out for ‘Les Galettes’, the traditional Breton buckwheat pancake. These can come with fillings ranging from cheese to onion to pork to – in a spectacular and triumphant meeting of worlds – some of Chez Lindsay’s acclaimed fruits de mer!

Details: 11 Hill Rise, Richmond TW10 6UQ | Book here
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Hanana

Local institution Hanana is as reliable a byword for ‘delicious, no-messing-around, sushi’ as one could hope to find. From the sashimi – which includes sea bass, and superb toro fatty tuna – to the sushi (of particular note is the crispy salmon-skin futomaki) there’s nothing that isn’t executed nigh-on flawlessly. Kick things off with a remarkably-good-value sushi platter, then get creative – the soft shell crab tempura alone is worth the journey to TW9.

Details: 49 Kew Road, Richmond, TW9 2NQ | For more information, visit their website here
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The Bingham Riverhouse

Justin De Souza

Fancy some fancy dining? The Bingham, a rather grand country house, offers a very well-appointed restaurant run by Steven Edwards, winner of MasterChef: The Professionals, boasting an extremely grown-up menu. Beetroot tartare with blood orange and pickle is on offer to start, with main courses including John Dory celeriac and lovage, and carrot wellington with salsify. It’s not po-faced though – the Bingham is also a rather louche member’s club, with its own dining room and menu (non-members are welcome to book in for lunch Mon-Thurs). Dinner can quite easily lead to drinks late into the night – and, since they’ve got rooms too, who knows what could happen…

Details: 61 – 63 Petersham Road, TW10 6UT | Book here
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Rock & Rose

Meaty, boozy, and plain good fun, Rock & Rose operates under the rather fabulous slogan ‘Food, Passion, Glamour’ – and, frankly, fair play to them. It’s a zhuzhy, colourful neighbourhood restaurant that refuses to take itself too seriously – so grab a couple of mates you’ve been meaning to catch up with, slide into a banquette or pull up a gaudily-upholstered chair, and, frankly, get ready to order something-or-other from the grill, plus approximately six bottles of wine and far too many cocktails. You won’t regret it. At the time.

Details: 106 – 108 Kew Road, Richmond TW9 2PQ | Book here

Looking for a boozer to head to after supper? Have a peep at our list of the best pubs in Richmond…